I guess I missed the memo about agency

✨TDLR: I was told I would be making $25 an hour when hired. Turns out I was going to be making 17 to 19 an hour. I tried to apply to be permanent staff and was offered a raise if I stayed with the agency. I took it and then was gaslit when I was not in fact paid post raise pay because these imbeciles don't understand basic addition. ✨

I knew from being permanent staff that agency staff wasn't liked because they didn't want to work or learn the job. But I never expected the agency itself to screw me over like this.

I was originally quoted $25/hr to work as an IDD DSP, which seemed legit since I knew someone else was getting that rate. So, I quit my crappy call center job and started at the agency after weeks of background checks and paperwork. But when I got my first paycheck, it was only $17/hr. I called payroll and found out that without my CNA certification, I was being paid $17 at one facility and $19 at a more skilled one—both under the same company. I just accepted it because I couldn't do anything about it at that point.

After working hard and getting great feedback from every facility, I applied for a permanent position. But when I told the agency I was going to leave, they somehow got the company to change the required hours to 6 months instead of the 500 hours I needed. By then, I’d have my CNA certification, but the company doesn’t recognize it, so I wouldn’t get paid more. I said forget it, and to keep me, they offered me a $1 raise. It wasn’t much, but I took it, bringing me to $18 for regular facilities and $20 for skilled ones. Again, with the same company.

Last week, I finally got hours at the skilled facility. but when I got my paycheck, it said I was making $18 for both facilities. Which didn’t make sense since I was originally making $19 at the skilled facility. I called payroll and pay basically said that it was a misunderstanding on my pay and that they weren't going to pay me two extra dollars an hour. But we went back and forth for a while debating who was right on how much a $1 raise would give me before. I just had to spell it out for them and explain that 17 + 1 = 18 and 19 + 1 = 20. That's when they told me that they're not going to pay me $2 extra dollars for a completely different facility. I was so tired of having to explain to these idiots. these two facilities are within the same company and if I get a $1 raise with the whole company that also applies to all the facilities, not just the ones that conveniently pay a dollar less. They then started trying to tell me that I was accusing of a pinching pennys (which is exactly what they're doing). So at that point, I’d had enough. I wasn’t getting the agreed pay, enough hours, I'm doing the same job as my coworkers who are permanent staff but making significantly less, and I wasn’t even being considered for permanent employment. So, I told them i quit so they reluctantly agreed to pay me $20/hr.